It was back to school after a week off for Spring Break and I feel like I missed the fun somehow. I never went to a "real" college, so I never had the thrill of going away with my sorority sisters/drama club geek friends/slacking losers who spend too much time getting high and playing video games (pick which friend group you think applies the best) to Daytona Beach or Myrtle Beach or Virginia Beach or Palm Beach or whatever hell 'beach' kids go away to. Although, I have watched Spring Break "documentaries" on MTV and it just doesn't look like a lot of fun. I mean, if I wanted to put on super-slutty clothes, pund back too many fruity drinks, and grind away to really bad dance music, I'd just go to the Bamboo in Seaside.
I do have to wonder at going back to school at my age. I like to joke that I decided to go back to school because I got the bank statement and an advert from the school in the mail on the same day, but the story goes more like this:
Erick and I were driving down to New Jersey. We had been discussing our trip's budget and found out that we had even less to spend on fun stuff (ie: decent food and a trip to Point) than we originally thought. I had been out of work for a while--not wanting to take another night job at the mall--so money was more than tight. Lizzie was sleeping in the back of the car, Erick was driving while furiously punching the radio buttons on a search for a decent station, and I was staring listlessly out the window, feeling like a total loser because I wasn't bringing in any kind of tangible benefits. Route 81 through Pennsylvania is riddled with billboards (mostly of the John 3:16 and Poconos Rule! variety), but this time a different sort caught my eye. A 900 foot high perky blond woman wearing a "nurse's uniform" was smiling glassily down at me, advertising the local technical school for whatever hilly part of PA we were slogging through.
Wearily, I murmured, "Maybe I should go back to school."
Erick leaped at me: "Really? Would you? I think that's a great idea."
Surprised by Erick's enthusiasm for my half-assed suggestion, I figuring that would be the last time we'd talk about it. I was so not that lucky. Just a few days after we got back from New Jersey, I got the aforementioned advertisement in the mail for the Elmira Business Institute. It had to be a sign.
So, at 30-blank years old, I signed up for school 4 nights a week, studying to be a medical assistant. I'm still not 100% sure what a medical assistant is, but I do know that with my course of study I could have a real career and not have to stammer through the answer to "What have you been up to, Aim?"
You don't have to be on the Dean's List to know that that's a good deal.
I never really did the Spring Break thing either... I don't think we missed anything too epic. So great that you're back at school. I always thought that you were way too smart for some random night job at the mall. Good story.
ReplyDeleteI am SO PROUD!
ReplyDeleteJust think, a chance to live up to your full potential!
No, I'm kidding, really, just KIDDING!
I just know that phrase will send you over here to pound on my door at 3am to glare and sputter at me. But I am proud. I know how hard it is to go back to school as an adult with a small child. Let me repeat. I AM SO PROUD of you, my very smart, beautiful daughter.
I also never did the spring break thing in college. Good for you. I know it will be a challenge, but worth it in the end (just keep saying that mantra over and over LOL). Seriously though it is a great move and i know you will do well.
ReplyDelete